Written Answers Tuesday 21 December 2010

Scottish Executive

Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether increased mileage incurred by the public due to the planned closure of passport offices in Scotland, including in Aberdeen and Dundee, will be counted against the climate change target of (a) Scotland or (b) England and Wales.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government is disappointed with the UK Government’s plans to close passport interview offices, as this will result in some people needing to travel further to use this service.

  Scotland’s emissions targets will be measured against the net Scottish emissions account, which is based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory for the UK, disaggregated by devolved administration. This includes emissions from transport allocated to Scotland. The UK-level estimate for transport emissions is based on sales of fuel. Road transport emissions are disaggregated to devolved administration-level using data on vehicle-kilometres travelled in each country by different vehicle types on different types of road.

  Any changes in the use of transport for any reason would be captured in the data sources used to estimate and disaggregate emissions. Hence, they would be included in the emissions estimates at UK level, and allocated to the relevant administration in the disaggregated estimates. Changes in emissions from transport in Scotland would be counted against the Scottish target, as well as the UK target. There is no climate change target for England and Wales combined, and no target for England on its own.

Environment

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to consider the contribution that development proposals would make to increasing or decreasing greenhouse gas emissions when providing advice to the Scottish Ministers on applications for planning consent or consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government requests that developers estimate the carbon payback time of developments applied for under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, and that where appropriate they use the carbon calculator available through the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/25114657/0 . SNH may comment on this aspect of applications but are under no obligation to do so. The Scottish Government currently seeks advice from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on the carbon impacts calculated by developers.

Further and Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what projections it has made regarding future funding settlements for colleges and universities.

Michael Russell: The Scottish Government has announced its intention to take forward a spending review that will conclude in September 2011 and will set out detailed budgets for the period to 2014-15. This will be informed by the recommendations of the commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services and the outcomes of the government’s consultation on the future of Scottish Higher Education. Ahead of that, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth confirmed in his statement to the Parliament on 8 December 2010 that the government will publish in January illustrative figures for public spending in the years up to 2014-15.

Local Government Finance

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether budget allocations to local authorities are needs based.

John Swinney: Local authority funding is distributed using a relative needs-based distribution formula inherited from the previous administration and as agreed between the Scottish Government, COSLA and council leaders.

Local Government Finance

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it arrived at the budget allocated to Glasgow City Council.

John Swinney: Funding for all local authorities, including Glasgow City Council, is distributed using a needs-based distribution formula inherited from the previous administration and as agreed between the Scottish Government, COSLA and council leaders.

Local Government Finance

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all local authorities have had the same reduction in budget levels.

John Swinney: Local authority funding is distributed using a formula inherited from the previous administration and as agreed between the Scottish Government, COSLA and council leaders for the 2011-12 settlement on the basis of relative need. Therefore each local authority receives a funding allocation based on its need relative to that of all other local authorities and as a result the change in funding from 2010-11 will be different for each local authority. The average reduction in 2011-12 is 2.6%.

Local Government Finance

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have received budgets reduced by more than the 2.6% agreed with the leadership of COSLA.

John Swinney: The reduction in the package of revenue funding agreed with COSLA was a 2.6% average reduction. Once the total revenue funding was distributed between all 32 local authorities using the relative needs-based distribution formula, which was inherited from the previous administration and also agreed between the Scottish Government, COSLA and council leaders for the 2011-12 settlement, this resulted in a variation in year-on-year changes. Some local authorities received a reduction in revenue funding based on relative need which was less or greater than the 2.6% average. The local authorities that received a reduction greater than 2.6% are listed in the following table.

  Local Authorities with a Reduction in Revenue Funding Greater than the 2.6% Average

  

Angus


Argyll and Bute


East Ayrshire


Edinburgh, City of


Eilean Siar


Fife


Glasgow City


Midlothian


Moray


Orkney


Renfrewshire


Scottish Borders


Shetland


Stirling


West Dunbartonshire

Local Government Finance

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it revised the reduction in Glasgow City Council’s budget from 2.6% to 3.6%

John Swinney: The local government funding package agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA’s Leadership resulted in an average reduction in revenue funding of 2.6% across Scotland. Once this total was distributed between all 32 local authorities using the relative needs-based distribution formula, which was inherited from the previous administration and also agreed between the Scottish Government COSLA and council leaders for the 2011-12 settlement, this resulted in a variation in year-on-year changes. The distribution formula produced a 3.6% reduction in revenue funding for Glasgow City Council’s as a result of this process.

Marine Scotland

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the premises currently occupied by Marine ScotlandScience in Almondbank following the expected closure of the facility in March 2011.

Richard Lochhead: Scientific work at Almondbank is being discontinued with an anticipated closure in March 2011. Options for the future status of the site are currently being developed.